Kiznaiver is certainly special, like that one friend you can’t figure out. Is he charming in an offbeat kind of way, or is he just off? Hard to say. I don’t necessarily need to know what a show is about in its first couple episodes – but by the third, I’d love to have a general sense of where it’s going. Yet Kiznaiver feels like it’s still stuck in setup. Last episode we ended with what seems like the point of no return, in which a character admits to murder. But at the start of this episode she just says she’s kidding, and we’re back to business as usual. That’s not to say that business is bad. The characters are fun to watch, and the premise of sharing pain is used to good effect.
And getting into the premise of wounds, we’re starting to see issues with the Kiznaiver system. First of all, the point of sharing wounds is to bring people together, and in a way it has. But the Kiznaivers also use their pain as a weapon against each other. And we have a masochist in the mix, which can only lead to trouble. The Kiznaiver premise really is impractical. But I think that’s kind of the point, and it’s fun to see the characters struggling to figure it out. For instance, they discover that their shared pain can be used to track each other down. But what they don’t seem to get is that using each other as human shields is pointless, as everyone shares the pain regardless. Then again, is vicarious pain the same as your own?
The episode starts to probe the question of authentic pain. Chidori even asks to get hit, since she’d rather feel her own pain than that of others. But this scene then turns into a misunderstanding, as the neighborhood watch descends on what they think is a case of domestic abuse. And therein lies the rhythm of this episode – there is a complex existential question at stake, which is then interrupted by sexually charged silliness. Take the end of the episode, where we have more talk about “connecting,” only to have it all culminate in an orgasm. Actually.
So now that we have our seven sinners, we can begin with the main plot – a struggle for survival. The idea is that these characters have to make it through the summer. But the tone of the show is so scattered, making it hard to tell if there will actually be any causalities. The way the Kiznaiver system is setup, it seems possible. Residual pain, for instance, is not shared, so something like illness could still kill off an individual character. I really don’t know if that will happen though.
Kiznaiver has taken a risk, using its first three episodes for setup. Perhaps this setup will amount to a truly mind-blowing and revolutionary show, and I’ll look back on these first three episodes as the start to all that. Or perhaps it will continue to run around in circles, capitalizing on its colorful characters and unique premise. But I’ve got to say, I’m excited. While this show could go horribly awry, I feel there is the potential for something incredible to come out of this. Hopefully next episode will give us a good sense of what this show really is – a masterpiece or fun misfire.
Episode Three Score: 7.0
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